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Gang of 8 push for supermajority

“I suspect it’ll come back [from committee] with a 13-5 margin, and that’ll be a tremendous momentum going to the Senate floor,” said Frank Sharry, the executive director of the pro-reform group America’s Voice.

“I think it’s clear based on how the committee has operated that they’re going to pass this thing through the committee,” said Ira Mehlman, media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which opposes the bill. “Probably the real fight is going to come when it reaches the floor.”

The parade of amendments expected to be offered to the 844-page bill — all of which are due by 5 p.m. on Tuesday — could number dozens or more. The amendments offer a preview of the floor fight over the most sweeping changes to immigration laws in more than two decades.

“There’s so many problems with the legislation that it’s hard to know where to start,” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a leading foe of the bill who plans to introduce multiple amendments in committee, told reporters on a conference call last week.

The most controversial amendment — which will come from Democrats — will likely be one to allow U.S. citizens to sponsor a same-sex partner for a green card. Most Judiciary Democrats support the measure, but Republicans on and off the committee have warned that including it could kill the bill altogether.

The committee’s chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), is expected to offer the amendment — known as the Uniting American Families Act — but neither he nor his aides have confirmed that he will.

On Sunday, Leahy tried to dismiss the notion that including the provision would doom the legislation.

“You know, we’ve had about 10 different things that people say will kill it,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Well, the fact is, there are a lot of people who want to kill an immigration bill no matter what.”

On Thursday, the powerful panel will open the first day of what is expected to be a long series of markups to the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act. Senators will be eager to leave their own imprint on the bill, but the tricky part will be for the committee to produce something that won’t shatter the bipartisan Gang of Eight coalition that crafted the legislation in the first place.

Four of the Gang sit on the committee: Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jeff Flake of Arizona on the Republican side and Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Chuck Schumer of New York. The Gang of Eight members have pledged to oppose anything that would spell doom for the bill on the floor.

“Nothing’s perfect, and we can always strive to make this consensus more perfect,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said. “But you can’t allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good.”

No amendments have been made public so far, save a new draft of the Gang of Eight immigration bill that largely fixes technical errors in the first version.

Outside groups on both sides of the debate don’t believe the Gang’s bill will change dramatically. The advocates look at this math: The 10 Democrats on the Judiciary panel would band together to defeat amendments that would significantly alter the legislation as would the two Republican Gang members.